Phil Savitz has coached boys high school soccer for 37 years and serves as the Girls Co-Director of Soccer at South Carolina United, which he joined 11 years ago upon its inception. Savitiz's high school teams have won than 700 games and have won a record 15 4A State Championships.

We're learning more and more about the importance of the hamstrings in injury prevention and overall athletic performance. Orthopedic surgeons have long been taught that the hamstrings are the "friend" of the ACL.

Last year marked the first time a club from Tennessee won a U.S. Youth Soccer national championship. Coached by Ronnie Woodard, Tennessee SC's U-18 girls lifted the Francis J. Kelly Cup and Woodard was named the 2016 NSCAA National Coach of the Year.

Hugo Arellano, the USA's captain at the 2015 U-17 World Cup who signed a Homegrown contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy in January of 2017 via the LA Galaxy II, made his MLS debut last weekend. The 19-year-old played the full 90 while filling in for suspended central defender Jelle Van Damme.

For the third time in six years, the Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year is a Ghana product who came to the USA via the Right to Dream Academy, which seeks opportunities abroad for promising young talent from West Africa.

Missing from the U.S. team that reached the quarterfinals of the 2017 U-20 World Cup were three American teens who were playing for Schalke 04 in its run to the U-19 Bundesliga semifinals: 19-year-old Haji Wright, and 18-year-old Weston McKennie, who turns 19 in August, and Nick Taitague, who turned 18 last February.

In a previous Youth Soccer Insider we discussed recognizing signs of heat illness. Now we will discuss an even more important strategy -- preventing dehydration and possible heat illness through a good hydration strategy.

The USA won its group at the 2017 U-20 World Cup and advanced to the quarterfinals, where Coach Tab Ramos' team fell, 2-1, in overtime to the surprise team of the tournament, Venezuela, which won its first four games with shutouts and faces England in the final on Sunday.

I am often asked this time of year about some strategies for coaches and parents to recognize heat illness, and for some strategies to manage the young athlete. With that in mind let's review some basic principles.

I was appalled as I saw my colleagues officiating. I was to ref the next game at the field and saw the ref, on a warm day on a turf field, wearing a short-sleeve referee shirt and black sweatpants. There was only one assistant referee and he was thankfully wearing black referee shorts but his black socks were pulled down to his ankles (maybe to avoid the "referee tan") and he was also wearing gray running shoes instead of black. Because of their diverse outfits, they did not look like a team. The other touchline was manned by a club ...